Yoshiko was one of the first people I met at the University of Michigan at International Student Orientation! Hailing from Japan, Yoshiko is double-majoring in dance and neuroscience, and will attend Columbia University next year to pursue an M.F.A in writing. She has plans to attend Med School following that. She is one of the most highly achieving people I know, and she is articulate and super clear about what kind of impact she wants to have on the world around her. I had one of the most fascinating, thought-provoking conversations speaking to Yoshiko than I've had in a while -- read on to learn more about her vision for the arts!
Q: What inspires you?
I'm inspired by how we communicate with one another in real life and how those interactions translate physically. As a dancer, it’s been my entire life’s mission to communicate through movement. Usually, what I seek to communicate comes down to a kind of universal truth. There's a purity that comes from movement and human interaction through dance. Whatever the dance style may be, movement in its rawest form generates a kind of kinesthetic empathy: It's really invigorating for people to draw some sort of story or deeper feeling from watching a dance.
I'm also inspired by writing and the sciences. I’m constantly amazed by how much I’m able to draw from all of my fields of study. I've learned about my body from the inside-out as a dancer, and, through the sciences, I now get to learn about it from the outside-in. Through my studies, I'm challenging myself to ask: How deeply can I understand myself? How can I understand what it is to move and harness my energy? I'm constantly inspired by how I can bridge the gaps between my seemingly different worlds.
Q: Who is someone you look up to in the world of dance?
Ohad Naharin [the artistic director of the dance company Batsheva]. His dance company came to Michigan to choreograph a piece for our dance show, and that was the most life-changing experience I’ve had. The process was highly rigorous, but to have the information transmitted to us in his piece was so valuable. His movement vocabulary is so raw and human. Working on his piece was the first time I've moved in a way that doesn't discriminate between dance and real life. His whole philosophy is deeply rooted in the idea that to dance is to live, and therefore to live is to dance. There's no boundary between who can and who can't dance. I'm so inspired by that; I think it's the heart of movement. The concept of dancing for the sake of living and living for the sake of dancing has been lost in so many concert dance forms, but it's so key to who we are.
"To dance is to live, and therefore to live is to dance. There's no boundary between who can and who can't dance."
Q: What do you hope to be doing in the next five years?
Firstly, finding ways of bringing dance into the public sphere. I’m interested in how we talk about dance, the body, and kinesthesis with a public audience in a way that doesn’t make dance commercialized. Currently, public perception of dance is either that it is a commercial spectacle (like So You Think You Can Dance) or is rooted in some sort of weird interpretative art form.
Also, recently, I’ve found that it’s really hard to get people to go to the theatre, and it’s even harder to cross the barrier of the dance bubble. Dancers are so siloed into their own world -- the audience seems to only consist of family and friends, other dancers, alumni, and faculty. I want to figure out how we break that barrier. I want to use writing to make dance more universal, as I believe writing is a more relatable medium than dance. I’m also really interested in understanding how we can use dance to sensitize people to their own body.
Q: Three ways you stay grounded:
I give myself me time -- it’s super important to stay in touch with yourself. Social media does a horrible job of pulling us away from what we want and our goals. I try to take time to myself to journal. People have such a dependency on their phones & technology nowadays and that's led to a real need for approval. That's really detrimental because people forget how to be by themselves.
I try to keep up with current events -- I read as much as I can, go to the movies, read the paper, etc. I wouldn't have a right to speak up if I didn’t know what was going on or what other people were doing. It’s really hard to validate your opinions if you’re not culturally aware.
I rely on other people, and I hope that they can rely on me too. I definitely use my family as a source of inspiration & to find my footing. I try to surround myself with people who push me to do better, and I try, as much as I can, to shed unhealthy relationships. I really focus on and maintain the connections that are healthy to me and that are based on mutual respect.
Q: What do you feel your responsibility as an artist of color is?
East Asia is pretty underrepresented on the stage. When you look at big dance companies, you tend to see token performers of East Asian heritage. And in my personal experience, I haven’t come across very many Japanese people. But there is so much that cultural background and heritage has to offer. It affects everything: For example, in Japan, the way that people move and talk, rehearsal etiquette, and even things like how a character is projected onstage, are vastly different from the way they are in the U.S. All of that is usually lost in translation. I’m in a unique position of having had the experience of being trained in both Japan and the US. Having full access to both languages and cultures gives me the resources to act as some sort of conduit between the two worlds.
Additionally, if we’re talking about diversity & diversifying the stage, then it’s really important to also have representatives of different cultures. East Asian people in general have a culture of being pretty silent. So, especially as a woman of color, I hope to pave the way and become an example for the young people that want to cross some of these barriers.
Q: What advice do you have for young performers of color?
Stay true to yourself, stay true to what you want, and know that you always deserve as much as anyone else in the room. If you see something that’s wrong, speak up, whether it directly affects you or not. Stand up for your people, stand up for your allies, stand up for the people that support you. Value those connections because, in the end, it’s really the people that matter, especially in the performing arts.
"Stay true to yourself, stay true to what you want, and know that you always deserve as much as anyone else in the room."
